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50 cities sign Declaration on citizens engagement

50 cities have now adopted the EUROCITIES Declaration on citizens' engagement,
demonstrating their commitment to create a Europe where people come first and
citizens have a role in new forms of participatory democracy.

On 29 November 2018, the new President of EUROCITIES and mayor of Stockholm, Anna König Jerlmyr, together with the mayors of Edinburgh and Stockholm, were the first to sign our Declaration on citizens' enegagement, pledging to:

involve citizens in a dialogue about our common future

inspire all levels of government to create societies where people come first

impact the way decisions are taken in Europe.

As the closest level of government to citizens, cities are crucial in shaping the future of Europe. Earlier this year, more than 90 cities organised 300 events under the framework of our Cities4Europe – Europe for citizens campaign, while citizens sent us more than 1000 postcards to express their views on what Europe will look like in 2030.

Cities have been experimenting and innovating with new forms of participatory democracy, to support traditional representative democracy. This is central to being able to successfully respond to pressing public concerns such as climate change, social cohesion, housing and employment.

Cities4Europe successfully highlighted positive examples of citizen engagement around Europe and set examples for other cities and levels of government.

Following the success of this campaign, we are now organising citizen consultations in 20 member cities. Residents in participating cities will debate different subjects and come up with three recommendations to build a better Europe.

On 20 and 21 March 2019, we will hold our second mayors summit in Brussels to launch our political manifesto ahead of the European elections in May and present the results of cities’ work in bridging the gap between Europe and its citizens.

Mayors and city leaders from across Europe are committed to being strategic partners to EU institutions and working towards a more positive future for Europe and its people. This is why the summit will be a good opportunity to launch our manifesto, The city leaders’ agenda for the EU, ahead of the elections.